For this assignment, I had already been thinking of a device to create that would help improve accessibility for the blind. For Network Expressions, I'm working on a device that will send touch over a network. It's basically a group of square pegs that have a force sensor on them that move up and down depending on how much force is being applied be the user and the connected user on their identical device. We had once thought of having a 7X5 grid so we could communicate letters through these devices, but was too costly. When we were thinking about letters though, I started thinking of braille, and of making a braille touch screen. I understand that there are refreshable braille readers, but I believe they only display one line at a time. What I am envisioning is creating the whole screen in braille on a piece of paper sized "display" that could represent all the text on the screen. The braille words could be 'clicked' then by tapping on them, much like pointing and clicking a mouse. The clickable words would need some kind of indication that they could be clicked also, perhaps a raised line underneath the braille word, like a hyperlink.
Over Thanksgiving my cousin John shared a story with us that relates to this topic. My cousin has had severe arthritis since he was a child, and it is difficult for him to walk and to grip things, and some of the medication he had taken had stunted his growth. But I never really thought of my cousin as being handicaped. He's very capable. He used to be a radio disk jockey in the Washington, DC and Ocean City, Maryland area. Now he works for the Maryland Chapter of ADAPT, a lobby group for rights of the physically and mentally challenged. Part of his job is to organize events to get the community involved and to make aware of the needs to make things accessible. Last spring, they held a sit in in front of the capital in support of a bill that was going through Congress. They ended up getting themselves arrested, which my cousin was very proud of. He told us about one of his comrades who had no hands, and when they got to the police station and were taking fingerprints, they took a print of his toes. Talk about accessibilty! :)
I just want to say I love the Airtrain. This was my first time traveling from the city to one of the neighboring airports. (I lived on long island before), and the Airtrain was so convenient. Before on the Island, I would have to have someone drop me off or take a cab to the airport. Now I can just hop on the subway right in front of my apt, take that to the A, ride that all the way to the far reaches of queens, and hop on the airtrain, costing only $7. No more inconveniencing others, no more paying $40 to take a cab. Sure it may take longer, but you meet interesting people. I rode the whole way back talking with this guy from Italy and giving him the ins and outs of New York transit, and teaching him a few new English words along the way.